Unai Simon's Steep Path Following Iker Casillas' Footsteps

Unai Simon (Twitter @SeFutbol)

JAKARTA - A winding journey was taken by the goalkeeper of the Spanish national team, Unai Simon during the Euro 2020.

The Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper made a glaring error when Spain played Croatia on Monday last week. However, they were able to rise to bring La Furia Roja to a 5-3 win.

Then, on Friday night that same weekend against Switzerland, Simon saved two penalties in a high five, following in the footsteps of Iker Casillas, who famously stopped two penalties against Italy in 2008.

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Spain was, of course, mighty between 2008 and 2012, winning Euro 2008, World Cup 2010, and Euro 2012. Casillas was vital in this victory, always being a formidable bulwark in penalty shootouts.

His first significant penalty saves in a Spain jersey were against the Republic of Ireland at the 2002 World Cup. However, his most famous was against Oscar Cardozo of Paraguay in 2010. At Euro 2012, he was key in stopping Portugal in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, Simon, although not the first choice in the tournament, performed very well. The Basque man is still young and managed to convince coach Luis Enrique to choose him over David de Gea and Robert Sanchez.

Unai Simon (Twitter @SeFutbol)

However, in the semifinals, Simon's brilliance faded. His light was covered by the brilliance of Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The new PSG goalkeeper became Italy's hero after denying Spain's Alvaro Morata a penalty shootout at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday.

Four of Italy's kickers did their job in this shootout, while only two of Spain's four were successful.

Spain's final kicker is no longer needed because it is not decisive. The final position on penalties was 4-2 for Italy.

The four Italian kickers who succeeded were Andrea Belotti, Leonardo Bonucci, Federico Bernardeschi, and Jorginho, while their first-kick Manuel Locatelli missed because it was saved by Spain's goalkeeper Simon.

On the other hand, Spain only managed from two kickers, namely Gerard Moreno and Thiago Alcantara, while Dani Olmo went wide over the goal and Morata was denied by Donnarumma.

This is the first time Spain has failed to win the Euro semi-finals out of the five semi-finals they have played. Three of them ended with the status of European champions.

A penalty shoot-out was taken after 1-1 with Alvaro Morata's goal denying Italy's lead from Federico Chiesa's second-half goal which lasted 120 minutes.